FEDERAL  . COUNCIL  • OF 
"CHURCHES  . UNSHAKEN 
IN  . ITS  . STAND  • FOR 
AMERICAN  . PROHIBITION 


(Issued  in  accordance  with  action  taken  by  the  Ad- 
ministrative Committee  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America  on  October  9,  1925) 


IN  view  of  the  widespread  interest  attracted 
by  the  report  of  the  Research  Department 
of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America  on  the  Prohibition  situation, 
and  of  the  serious  misunderstandings  which  have 
arisen  in  connection  with  that  report,  the  Ad- 
ministrative Committee  of  the  Federal  Council, 
composed  of  representatives  of  the  Church  bod- 
ies which  are  members  of  the  Council,  has  au- 
thorized the  following  statement  of  its  convic- 
tion as  to  principle  and  policy. 

First  of  all,  the  Committee  would  emphasize 
its  unequivocal  support  of  National  Prohibition, 
as  expressed  in  many  public  utterances  and  re- 
affirmed by  the  Quadrennial  Session  of  the 
whole  Council  in  Atlanta  last  December.  We 
declare  our  strong  conviction  that  the  policy  of 
prohibition  is  the  deliberately  and  permanently 
established  policy  of  this  nation,  that  this  policy 
has  not  failed,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  already 
yielded  results  which  fully  justify  its  adoption, 
that  the  liquor  traffic  and  the  saloon  must  not 
come  back  again,  and  that  the  Churches  must 
set  themselves  wdth  new  purpose  to  see  that 
])rohibition  is  enforced  by  law  and  sustained  by 
the  national  conscience. 

The  statement  adopted  by  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil in  December,  1924,  as  the  authoritative  ex- 
pression of  its  attitude  toward  the  prohibition 
amendment,  declares  that  “the  effect  upon  the 
physical,  economic,  social  and  moral  life  of  the 
nation  of  the  extraordinary  effort  of  society  to 
protect  itself  from  the  liquor  traffic  has  been  so 


beneficial  that  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that 
the  law  will  stand,  based  as  it  is  upon  the  un- 
assailable purpose  ‘to  promote  the  general  wel- 
fare’.” The  present-day  duty  of  the  moral  citi- 
zenship of  the  nation  we  believe  to  be: — 

‘‘1.  To  magnify  the  value  of  the  principle  of 
total  abstinence  and  the  obligation  upon  the 
law-abiding  citizens  to  practise  the  same; 

“2.  To  make  unmistakably  clear  to  both  the 
lawless  sellers  and  the  lawless  buyers  of  intoxi- 
cants that  the  liquor  traffic  has  been  perma- 
nently outlawed  in  the  United  States  as  the  en- 
emy of  society; 

‘‘3.  To  urge  local,  state  and  federal  govern- 
ments to  cooperate  with  increased  vigor  against 
the  present  organized  resistance  to  the  Prohi- 
bition Law  until  as  adequate  an  enforcement  of 
that  law  has  been  secured  as  of  any  other  social 
legislation.” 

The  Administrative  Committee  of  the  Federal 
Council  has  seen  nothing  in  the  report  of  the 
Research  Department  to  justify  any  modifica- 
tion whatever  of  the  position  thus  taken  by  the 
Council  on  the  prohibition  issue.  The  policy  of 
National  Prohibition,  as  the  report  shows,  was 
adopted  by  the  American  people  by  the  over- 
whelming votes  of  their  elected  legislative  as- 
semblies. This  policy  has  been  reaffirmed  by 
increasing  majorities  wherever  it  has  been  chal- 
lenged. 

We  would  remind  those  otherwise  good  citi- 
zens, who  by  their  personal  example  and  public 
utterances  are  lending  countenance  to  those 
who  violate  their  country’s  laws,  of  the  reasons 
which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment.  It  rests  upon  three  fundamental 
considerations:  First,  the  belief  that  in  dealing 
with  gigantic  social  evils  like  disease  or  crime, 
individual  liberty  must  be  surrendered  in  the 
interest  of  effective  social  control;  second,  the 
belief  that  the  liquor  traffic  is  such  an  evil — a 
conviction  which  is  gaining  strength  all  over  the 
world,  and  which  has  recently  found  official  ex- 
pression in  the  report  of  the  Special  Commis- 
sion on  Drink  of  the  Universal  Christian  Con- 
ference on  Life  and  Work  at  Stockholm;  third, 
the  experience  gained  by  a generation  of  ex- 
periment with  substitutes,  which  has  led  the  ad- 


vocates  of  temperance  to  conclude  tliat  only 
drastic  federal  action  could  bring  about  the 
eradication  of  the  evils  they  were  fighting.  Pro- 
hibition was  not  a policy  adopted  hastily  or 
without  due  consideration,  and  it  is  nijl  to  be 
set  aside  merely  because  great  difficulty  or  even 
tcmtiorary  re\’erses  are  encountered  in  carrying 
it  out. 

The  report  makes  clear  the  remarkable  social 
gains  wliich  followed  under  the  adoption  of  pro- 
hibition; a lowering  of  the  death-rate  from  alco- 
holic  disease,  a remarkable  lessening  of  depend- 
ency due  to  alcoholism,  a great  reduction  in 
drunkenness,  and  other  results  of  a socially  de- 
sirable sort,  ft  also  calls  attention  to  the  part 
undoubtedly  played  by  prohibition  in  improving 
business  and  economic  conditions,  and,  above 
all,  points  out  the  indisputable  advantage  gained 
by  the  abolition  of  the  saloon.  At  the  same  time, 
tlie  report  reminds  us  that  National  Prohibition 
has  not  yet  been  given  a fair  opportunity  to 
\ indicate  its  full  value  to  the  physical,  economic, 
social  and  moral  life  of  the  nation  and  calls  at- 
tention to  serious  dangers  to  which  it  is  at  pres- 
ent e.xposed. 

The  Federal  Council  gratefully  recognizes  the 
splendid  service  which  has  been  rendered  by  the 
agencies  especially  authorized  by  the  Churches 
which,  for  many  decades,  have  labored  persis- 
tently and  effectively  to  secure  the  adoption  and 
the  maintenance  of  prohibition.  The  Council 
pledges  its  active  cooperation  with  all  agencies 
which  are  ready  to  make  a sustained  and  con- 
structive effort  to  uphold  the  prohibition  regime 
in  order  that  there  may  be  a conclusive  demon- 
stration of  its  merit  as  a national  policy.  It 
urges  the  friends  of  prohibition  in  other  coun- 
tries not  to  be  deceived  by  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made  by  opponents  of  prohibition  to 
interpret  the  report  as  a confession  of  failure  or 
even  of  discouragement  on  the  part  of  the  Fed- 
eral Council  or  of  its  constituent  Church  bodies. 

The  Federal  Council  calls  upon  the  Churches 
to  undertake  a renewed  moral  crusade  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  those  who  are  responsi- 
ble for  prohibition  enforcement,  and.  in  particu- 
lar, to  give  a greater  measure  of  moral  support 
to  the  newly  reorganized  activities  of  the  Fed- 


eral  Government.  It  urges  upon  all  citizens 
who  believe  in  prohibition  the  necessity  of  sup- 
porting the  law  by  an  irresistible  volume  of 
public  opinion.  Of  those  who  may  be  out  of 
sympathy  with  prohibition  as  a social  measure, 
or  who  question  the  wisdom  of  the  particular 
method  by  which  it  was  adopted,  it  asks  volun- 
tary compliance  with  the  law  in  the  interest  of 
orderly  government  and  in  order  that  the  policy 
it  represents  may  be  adequately  tried.  It  appeals 
for  a new  measure  of  fair-mindedness  and  good 
will  on  the  part  of  all  in  connection  with  this 
vitally  important  issue  in  order  that  the  outcome 
of  the  great  moral  effort  may  be  determined  by 
reason  rather  than  by  prejudice  and  self-interest. 

Esoecially  does  the  Federal  Council  urge  upon 
the  Churches  the  necessity  for  a more  adequate 
)jrogram  of  education  on  the  moral  issues  in- 
volved in  the  liquor  traffic.  We  strongly  em- 
phasize the  need  for  a far  greater  attention  to 
this  problem  in  the  Church’s  program  of  relig- 
ious education.  In  the  last  analysis,  law  de- 
pends for  its  support  upon  the  public  opinion 
which  sustains  it  and  the  conscience  of  those 
who  live  under  it. 

There  can  be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  sup- 
pose that  legislation  can  relieve  us  of  the  neces- 
sity of  training  our  youth  in  habits  of  temperate 
living,  self-control,  and  the  practice  of  Christian 
citizenship.  To  foster  such  habits  and  to  culti- 
\'ate  such  practice  is  the  special  and  peculiar  re- 
sponsibility of  the  Church,  to  be  ignored  only 
at  the  peril  of  the  nation. 

It  is  our  hope  and  confidence  that  the  report 
of  the  Research  Department  on  the  prohibition 
situation,  calling  attention  as  it  does  to  the  real 
dangers  with  which  we  are  confronted,  will  stir 
the  Churches  to  a renewed  sense  of  their  re- 
sponsibility, not  only  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
Prohibition  Law,  but  also  for  rallying  the  con- 
science of  the  nation  to  its  support. 


AMERICAN  ISSUE  PRESS 
WESTERVILLE,  OHIO.,  U.  S.  A. 


